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People growing too much pot at home, Health Canada warns

Pressure on to prevent abuse of home-grow program

Reuters — Health Canada on Thursday raised concerns about the large quantity of medical marijuana people were growing at home, after its data showed a significant jump in daily average production permitted by health care practitioners. While the practitioners can allow registered patients to grow a limited amount at home for personal use, the regulator’s

Aurora Cannabis in November 2019 opened a flagship retail store at the West Edmonton Mall, describing the 11,000-square foot shop as “both a retail cannabis store and an immersive experiential space.” (CNW Group/Aurora Cannabis Inc.)

Aurora Cannabis to shut five Canadian grows

Closures mean layoffs for 30 per cent of firm's production staff

Edmonton marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis is poised to close five of its grow sites across Canada and lay off almost a third of its production workforce. The company on Tuesday announced next steps in the “business transformation plan” it launched in February to “better align the business financially with the current realities of the cannabis


University of California researchers say growing cannabis compounds may be supplanted by producing them using yeast.

Yeast produces low-cost, high-quality cannabinoids

The development isn’t commercially ready yet, but it could change the budding cannabis and hemp industries

Before Canadian hemp and cannabis growers have even begun to capitalize on new markets, they could have new and novel competition. University of California synthetic biologists have engineered brewer’s yeast to produce marijuana’s main ingredients — mind-altering THC and non-psychoactive CBD — as well as novel cannabinoids not found in the plant itself. Feeding only

Tips for safe cannabis consumption

Tips for safe cannabis consumption

The RCMP has these reminders for the public

Serious accidents can easily happen when you drive while impaired by a drug, regardless of the quantity or the purpose of using it. The RCMP would like to remind the public that getting behind the wheel while impaired by drugs is not only dangerous, it’s against the law. “Cannabis affects everyone differently,” says Constable Mike Hibbs,

People look to purchase cannabis products at the Quebec Cannabis Society (SQDC) store, on the day Canada legalizes recreational marijuana, in Montreal. Indigenous entrepreneurs see an opportunity in the market.

Canada’s Indigenous people fight for rights with new cash crop — cannabis

The stage is, however, being set for a struggle over whether or not it’s a ‘sovereign Indigenous right’

Thomson Reuters Foundation – In their struggle to regain control over resources and spur economic growth, Canada’s Indigenous communities have found an unlikely ally: cannabis. Facing higher levels of poverty and unemployment than the general population, many Indigenous people see the marijuana trade as a valuable source of income. Canada became the first industrialized nation


Hemp growers say outdoor cultivation of cannabis too close to their fields could see them inadvertently running afoul of some regulations.

Navigating the hemp nutraceutical market

Hemp growers will soon clear the legal hurdles keeping them from the nutraceutical market, but they may face an uphill climb from the field

A regulatory roadblock is about to disappear for hemp growers, but plenty of obstacles remain to capturing the nutraceutical market. Until now they’ve been required to destroy parts of the plant that might have otherwise been harvested, but new regulations from Health Canada will be arriving along with cannabis legalization this fall. They will then

Hemp growers hope cannabis legalization will remove some legal roadblocks they’ve been facing.

Hemp growers will be able to harvest more material

Hemp growers want in on the nutraceutical market, but until now 
regulations have limited them to harvesting hemp grain and fibre. 
That might be about to change when cannabis becomes legal

Farmers may soon be able to harvest the whole hemp plant, including the leaves and flowers they are currently required to throw away. Health Canada has just completed consultations on the federal government’s proposed framework for legal cannabis, a document that includes regulations that are, “risk based and that allows cultivators of industrial hemp to

An unauthorized outdoor cannabis “grow” operation found by RCMP northwest of Winnipeg in August 2013. (Photo courtesy Manitoba RCMP)

Canadians spent $5.7 billion on cannabis in 2017

Ottawa | Reuters — Canadians spent an estimated $5.7 billion on cannabis in 2017, Statistics Canada said on Thursday, with the country on track to legalize recreational use of the drug nationwide later this year. About 4.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 to 64 purchased both medical and non-medical cannabis last year, the


Editorial: Green tape

Hipsters and hippies across the country are set to celebrate cannabis legalization this coming Canada Day. The Trudeau government is on track for legalizing this recreational drug by that date, one of the highest-profile promises made during the last election campaign. That’s likely a good thing. While any recreational drug, alcohol included, is a problem

Jen Unwin of Nature’s Perfect Plant Food grabs a handful of red wiggler worms from a vermicomposting tub.

Expansion possible as cannabis market grows

Small companies could see host of new opportunities in the wake of cannabis legalization

A Manitoba entrepreneur has high hopes that pending changes to cannabis laws will help expand her fertilizer business. Jen Unwin of Nature’s Perfect Plant Food said the ability for Canadians to grow their own marijuana could be a “huge boon” to small input providers, as consumers learn more about indoor plant production. “In eight short